David Cameron Plots The Social Cleansing Of The South

A further cut in the Benefit Cap, as pledged by David Cameron yesterday, could lead to the social cleansing of the entire south of England as families on benefits are pushed ever further north by soaring housing costs.

Although touted by the right wing press as an attack on the workshy, this move is aimed squarely at struggling low income families, and almost all them are single mothers. If these women were looking after one of Iain Duncan Smith’s four children they would be hard working people, toiling for the wealthy on poverty pay and doing the right thing. But looking after your own kids is no longer considered work and so they are scroungers who should have kept their legs shut as some of the nastiest and most virulent voices now claim.

Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of the social security system was that the days when a working class woman was slut-shamed and stigmatised for having children on her own looked to be a distant memory. Benefits meant that single people of either sex could look after their children with some degree of independence and dignity if they found themselves without a wage coming in. They would be poor as fuck, but they would be housed at least. This applied whether they were single parents due to choice, relationship break up, bereavement or simply making a youthful mistake – and most people have had an unprotected shag at least once in their lives which is all it takes after all.

The introduction of the Benefit Cap, alongside workfare and sanctions for lone parents, has meant that single mothers are back in the firing line like never before. Lone parents now face being driven from the very cities they have lived and grown up in due to a succession of brutal housing benefit cuts that will punish their children most acutely of all. These are not people living in Chelsea mansions as this government pretend, but people living in the last remaining private rented slums that will still accept benefit claimants in places like Croydon, Tottenham or Catford.

The reduction of the benefit cap to £23,000 will mean cities such as Bristol, Bath and Cambridge will also become unaffordable to out of work parents with as few as two children. For the small number who need a property with more than three bedrooms, then barely anywhere south of Birmingham will be cheap enough. Councils in the midlands are already warning of pressures to housing and services in the region due to families being relocated from London and the economic cleansing from the first benefit cap has barely even begun. Should the cap be lowered even further then the trickle of families in poverty arriving in northern towns from the south could becom an avalanche, re-entrenching the North-South divide like never before.

The truth is that benefits have always been capped, but previously this took place at a local level. Benefits for an adult on unemployment benefits are capped at just £72.40 a week plus an additional amount towards housing costs. How much this is depends on where you live. In Islington, where the average rent for a one bedroom flat is estimated to be £415 a week by estate agents Foxtons, Housing Benefit is capped at £255.50 a week for a single adult without kids. That’s why, apart from those in social housing, not many poor people live in Islington anymore. In Barnsley the average weekly rent for a one bedroom flat is £89.30 according to this property website, whilst the Housing Benefit cap for a single adult is £69.23 a week. Lots of poor people live in Barnsley.

It is not the fault of claimants that rents have spiralled out of control. It is the failure of free market policies that have led to shrinking wages and soaring housing costs. Greedy landlords and exploitative employers who don’t pay proper wages are behind the growing benefit bill. And it is in their interests alone to blame struggling single mums and use nasty policies based on nasty prejudices to bully families out of their homes and communities.

@george good old days when labour exchanges actually tried to help you find work not like today where its all about finding every excuse to kick you off claiming ..even setting traps for you
To fall into so they can use it to cut you
Off

Bobchewie,
I have never found a job from the labour exchange or job centre as now it is known,and in a lifetime of work have only been on the dole once for four months.I consider myself fortunate to have been in work and thank god retirement age came,from what I read you are exactly right,and increasing retirement age just keeps younger people out of work,it’s cheaper for the government to pay dole money to young people than pay the state pension to retired people.

Ten pints in your ‘local’,as opposed to a ‘spoons’, and fish n chips on the way home would cost £38. Knock a tenner off for a spoons,if you dont mind grade ‘c’ beer. (quality has been dropped markedly in busier outlets with less competition but they think we dont notice).Add 10 for london zone 1 .

Bob’s right, they don’t. Most people in the South East on low incomes also get housing benefits if they are in rented accommodation, as do many pensioners whose housing benefit hasn’t been capped. Unemployed claimants get £71.40 a week if they are single, no matter there they live. The rest of the money goes to landlords. Landlords charge more in the south.

@george do you condemn companies that use offshore accounting and avoid paying tax or is that ok with you..after all its these benefit lot thats ruined the country them and the communist NHS encouraging ppl to get something for nothing isnt it

Bobchewie,
Yes I do condemn offshore accounting,but how did you get from benefit cao to offshore accounting.No I am not hard on “benefit lot”,what I said was “why should anyone have a greater ammount of money in benefits than someone working”

@george but they dont .do you think claimants live in luxury?
Ok and something for nothing you think tax payers should pay some company on govt payroll to do sod all to deal with claimants and tax payers subsidize private companies who avoid tax and make profits from unpaid labour

George, the majority of these people are working.You do know that, so why pretend otherwise, it just seems dishonest to me.the article is ‘the social cleansing of the south.’ which is what will happen with this cap.

george
the root cause lays firmly @ the feet of neoliberalism and accelerate by thatcherite policies, call it economic mismanagement if you like…which has failed us in many areas particularly housing costs and lack of building new homes….since all working class industry etc is now privately owned…the nhs soon to go that way..uk productivity has shrunk by 40% in 35yrs as has wages, tax base and tax take…
prices of housing has disproportionately artificially been caused to sky rocket….

@ george for a single person the cap is £18,200. I used the Gov.UK benefit cap calculator and entered the data for a single person on ESA (which I don’t claim). In fact the “applicable amount” is £218pw before paying utility bills etc. How do you justify your claim that benefit claimants are better off than you?

“Now retired” those are key words in your reply George. When you were working you could probably afford a deposit, and a mortgage, on a terrace house, or even maybe a semi. Prices are so high now that even working people, on average wages, cannot afford to buy a modest home. I sold my two bed back to back for £35,000 in 2003 by 2006 it was on the market for £94,000! Although I was still working I could not have afforded to buy it back! Prices are even worse now, so rents on homes are astronomical ,and it is the rents charged on these homes that is driving up the housing benefit bill. (although 76% of the TOTAL benefit bill is spent on pensioners, with 50% spent on the state pension alone) Unemployed single people get approx £72 pw, regardless of where they live, it is rental charges that take some people’s benefit up to the cap. The difference between a 1 bed flat in Bradford, and a one bed flat (of the same standard) in London is astronomical. Do we blame the benefit claimant for their rent quadrupling over the years?

March for Homes has been organised for this Saturday 31st January in London at noon starting in Elephant and Castle and Shoreditch. Many private tenants and campaigners from housing and community organisations will march on Boris in City Hall to demand better housing for Londoners including introducing a rent cap.

It would be great if you could attend. For more detail see: http://marchforhomes.org/

Norma,
I agree whole heartedly with you about property prices outstripping wages,and I really do have sympathy for young people of today,in this running down hill fast of a country instead of the next generation living better than the previous generation it’s going backwards.
As for pensions,believe me the state pension doesn’t allow for living the high life.

According to the latest Scottish government figures, the proportion of homeless applications that come from the private rental tenants rose from 13% 2008-09 to 18% in 2013-14.

There is a lag between welfare reform and when some of those reforms start to have an impact, the first sanction liquidates any meagre assets a claimant may have, the second or third sanction will probably force the claimant into rent default and ultimately eviction.

The welfare reform implementation lag is now diminishing because of that suspect that evictions and homeless will increase drastically.

Then we have cuts in care for older people whilst scameron chucks tax payer money at con merchants like maximus whose job it is to stop claimants from being paid so they can get more of the welfare budget and to add insult to injury these parasitic companies like maximus get rewarded with even more money for getting ” the job done ”
One big con job

apologies for o/t but at present there are on avg about 2000 paedo predators on youtube US ones and about 800 UK ones if this worries you or pisses you off then by all means complain to google ..thats if they can be arsed to do anything about it, apart from closing down accounts of those who report these bastards

£255 a week, eh?
Guess who is going to start looking for a more expensive roof?
I’m serious. If they want to get snotty and cut the bill I will use the maximum instead of what I need.Then Working will pay even less.
£255 clear is a lot better than minimum wage. I will stay in bed for it, thanks all the same Dave.
See how you like Those Apples?

They would be OBD if they get in. I don’t think gthat’s going to happen though when they lose a massive number of previously safe seats in Scotland. Labour are traitors and are now about to reap what they’ve sown in taking people for granted.

It will probably mean the Tories getting in again in some form or another. However Labour would be just as bad as the Tories anyway so i’ll be voting for SNP as i look forward to a lot of new SNP MP’s in the HOC after the election lobbying on our behalf.

Whats worse…
If you have your little darlings living with you and they are between 18 and 21
and they are on JS.. then they do not get covered with their bit of housing benefit.( I do not know if this applies to young adults in collage). This also applies if young people leave care homes etc..Nowhere for youngers to find a place of their own to escape trauma.

Cameron has said NO housing benefit for 18 to 21 year olds..IT IS BANNED..Thats if he gets in again.
If I have understood this wrong. Can someone put me right.

I really choked on my Dinner [pun intended] when I read this comment in the Daily Hate!
“Even those who have paid their National Insurance contributions for decades will find they will not get the support they need and deserve if they lose their job, have an accident or become ill. The biggest losers are likely to be the hard-working but low-paid people who need tax credits and other help to make ends meet. Low-paid work will become a route into poverty, not an escape from it.”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-2930201/Reforms-cut-benefits-quarter.html#ixzz3Q8rzFbpA
What hypocrisy! It don’t need me to tell anyone reading this that they led [with the aid of the government] the skiver rhetoric.
Have they realised that everyone is one illness/disability/job loss from receiving the same treatment as the so-called skivers’.
Not to be overlooked is the knock on effect the welfare “reforms” has had on everyone: e.g. since legal aid was all but abolished many law firms have laid off staff and newly qualified solicitors can’t get work.

@JV not the first time actors have been used in stories though ..the fact that they use them is bad enough and they dont tell their readers they are actors
most of the time …also acting is a profession that is known to have unemployed you are only as good as preaent job
When i used to sign on at labour exchange i would see in the dole queue actors that had been on TV as i recognised them .some even appeared in popular comedies

Why don’t actors open their curtains in the morning? Because it gives them something to do in the afternoon, boom, boom luvie… one is struggling to get some voiceover work these days, maybe a toothpaste ad or a spot of continuity announcing…

I’m very fit; with great muscles, excellent at martial arts and could do the splits which allow me to do amazing high kicks. I’ve trained in Boxing, Muay Thai, Karate and currently Kung Fu. I’m an experienced model and actor, have stared in many feature films. I choreograph my fight scenes and do all the stunts; I’m an outstanding martial arts actor and my biggest inspirations are Jean Claude Van Damme and Bruce Lee. I’m very professional, with an outgoing personality and very eager to succeed in the film and modeling industry.

“I WONDER WHY THE LINKS TO THE QUESTION OF OUR TROOPS HAVING MENTAL DISORDERS DUE TO BEING GIVEN MEFLOQUINE (LARIAM), HAVE BEEN BLOCKED ?”

From: Cailean Watt

19 January 2015

Dear Ministry of Defence,

I am writing to request information as a UK citizen about UK
military personnel who were prescribed Mefloquine (a.k.a Lariam),
and the number of these personnel who were then assessed for a
mental health disorder in 2014. This ‘assessment’ could have been
in the form of being assessed at a mental health clinic or admitted
as an inpatient for a mental health disorder.

Thousands of British soldiers are being put at increased risk of psychosis and suicide because the Ministry of Defence refuses to stop using a controversial anti-malarial drug that has just been banned by the US military, The Independent can reveal.

Mefloquine – better known as Lariam – has long been the subject of warnings over its effects on mental health and is now only used by a minority of people travelling abroad.

Amid mounting concerns about the dangers of the drug – which has been linked with a string of suicides and murders – the US military acted this month to ban its use among special forces. The decision came after it was linked to the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians by a US soldier.

Yet British soldiers are still being given Lariam – a drug described as a modern-day “Agent Orange” by doctors because of its toxicity.

I think care needs to be taken when attacking the claimant specifically. We don’t know what the Mail said to him, whether he was paid or not, or stitched up – wouldn’t be hard to pretend to be a casting agent and get him to say whatever you want. The result of this story is that he will probably lose his claim, if he’s co-operated with that he will be regretting it now.

Either way, his dickish comments about healthcare and disability aside, why shouldn’t he have a go at acting, sounds like he’s working hard at it and has had a few appearances, perhaps he’ll get there. I have no problem at all with anyone being on benefits for whatever reason they choose, there aren’t enough jobs to go round after all. Having a go at him is just buying into their bullshit. Plenty pf people who’ve gone on to be successful in the arts/entertainment were actively avoiding work and on benefits when they were young.

There is absolutely no reason why welfare scroungers should be able to claim as much as £23,000 pa. That is far too much. It should be restricted to about £13,500 which is the minimum wage. Cameron is being generous.

David Cameron to reduce benefits cap to £23,000 immediately if he wins the election

In an interview to mark 100 days until the general election, Mr Cameron said that his reform of the welfare system is a “deeply progressive programme” that is “changing people’s lives”.

The policy will pay for thee million apprenticeships and everyone in Britain is given “the chance to make the most of their God-given talents”, the Prime Minister said.

……..Sandy from North Wales said, “It really changed my life, who would have thought somebody like me with an eight and a half grand tuition bill and a degree in engineering sciences, could have ever imagined stacking shelves in Tesco on a zero hours contract”

“My new found apprenticeship allows me all the flexibilty i need to attend the food bank and search for a roof over my head”

A DWP spokesperson said, “Good luck stories like these are the basis of a thriving economy, maybe in two years time Sandy may be collecting trolleys”

Maureen Lipman, Labour luvvie, declares she has to think about leaving Britain because of the rise in anti-semitism. She says nothing of the abuse and murder of thousands of disabled people in britain over the last five years.

The Liverpool branch of IWW request information pertaining to the
nature of Tesco PLC’s involvement in the Community Action
Programme, Help to Work scheme, and Community Work Placements.

Specifically, we would like to know:

For the period Jan 2011 – Present:
– How much Tesco pay participants further than JSA
– The number of participants in the scheme
– Rate of retention of Community Work Placement workers at the end
of their CWP period in Tesco PLC positions 2011-2014
– Whether workers who are dismissed while in CWP have JSA or other
State Benefits halted or docked.

I was actually waiting for the bragging to start.
No fuckwit who comes out with comments like those earlier lives on the minimum wage.
Interesting to note its a bogus over the top sum, not say 35k.
Spot the b/s merchant. If you earned 75k and had an important job of work that did not involve Trolling you wouldnt be on here Susie.

obd – I cannot stand Murphy or the labour party – will be voting SNP or Greens. It is a pity we could not vote to stop this coallition right now – I would be first in the queue. I speak to loads of people in England and Wales on a daily basis through my work and one lovely man I was speaking to told me he was voting for BNP. I did ask if he was having me on and he said no. I have never heard any positives about this Government since it has been appointed. People are sick fed up and that includes people who are working. In my day you were able to obtain a Home Loan to buy a house which covered the deposit and then get a mortgage. Today, it is impossible for young couples and single people to get on the property ladder. I feel as if I am just working to survive and pay bills – don’t know what would happen if I was to become ill. In fact it makes me ill just thinking about it.

When George Osborne knocked a penny off a pint of beer in the 2014 election, the whole uk telecommunications system must have been at breaking point as people celebrated in the streets and the brilliant news resonated around the world…………………..

“You must be fucking joking”

We have in power the most inept bunch of comedians that ever took centre stage………….

The only thing that is taking off in our nation is the use of food banks, the Office for National Statistics complete piss takers.

You might as well build a huge wall across the centre of the UK because the agenda is led by one place only, London.

Reblogged this on Christopher John Ball and commented:
The Conservatives continue to place scapegoating at the heart of their social and economic policy – they are culling the populace. This week we commemorated the awful events of 70 years ago. Cameron sees that dark period as a template for policy not a warning. This is part of that plan.

One of my friends, he is also disabled, goes into hospital tomorrow. He was hounded and hounded by the DWP to such an extent he is afraid to leave home.
His back is completely fucked and he takes pain killers like sweets.
Not only is his back fucked, he has had operations on both his knees and both wrists.

The drugs he takes have taken many changes, from aspirins and codeine, now at morphine and Fentanyl…

Fentanyl is approximately 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine and many times more potent than heroin.

……………..and yet he is constantly harrassed by the DWP and asked what he is capable of doing?

HAVING HAD TWO OPERATIONS ON HIS SPINE THAT PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL, HE GOES IN TOMORROW TO HAVE A RADIOACTIVE DYE SYRINGED INTO HIM TO ASCERTAIN THE STATE OF HIS NERVOUS SYSTEM ON HIS COLLAPSING DISCS WHILST HAVING A STEROID INFUSION.

This guy will never ever work in a month of sundays, yet the chase is relentless, driving him to absolute despair.

The thought of not coming out of the anaesthetic would be a bonus, he told me, the pain would go away forever……………………..

We are witnessing the onslaught of the disabled on a dail basis, yet the authorities that are supposed to offer anti discrimination, sit back and scratch their arses.
“Why have Human Rights or Equality Legislation if the Judiciary are instructed to ignore it?”

Have you seen the old girl
Who walks the streets of London
Dirt in her hair and her clothes in rags?
She’s no time for talking,
She just keeps right on walking
Carrying her home in two carrier bags.

Chorus

Have you seen the old man
Outside the Seaman’s Mission
Memory fading with the medal ribbons that he wears
In our winter city,
The rain cries a little pity
For one more forgotten hero
And a world that doesn’t care

No change from all of those years ago when this song was written by Ralph McFell/McTell – can’t remember but Cat Stevens sang it.

“”””Through its Disability Confident campaign, the government is working with employers to remove barriers, increase understanding and ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfill their potential and realise their aspirations.”””

“””Disabled employment in numbers:
•disability employment is now at 3.1 million
•the employment rate for disabled people rose by 2.5% in the year to September 2014
•employment rate for disabled people is around 46% compared to 79% for non-disabled”””

Do you have any proof of those numbers DWP?
DWP Spokesman said “Sorry we can`t give that information.”

“””“Disabled people make a vital contribution to our labour market, as well as being uniquely able to help employers make connections with disabled customers. Shutting out disabled people isn’t just unacceptable discrimination, it’s bad business.””””

Geoff – Aspergers is on Atos’ list that says AS can only be diagnosed by a qualified doctor, not a “health professional” whatever that means. That list includes serious conditions as stroke and heart failure. Mind you, as we well know Atos regard the mere existence of a pulse means the patient is “fit for work”.

There are no plans for any insurance products to help people plan ahead for their care needs in old age, leading companies have told the BBC.Creating such a market was one of the key aims underpinning the government’s decision to introduce a cap on care costs from next year.Two years ago Prime Minister David Cameron said he hoped the plans would “open up an enormous market”.But 17 major companies said there was not enough interest in such policies.Care experts said the revelation was a blow.About 60% of people are expected to need care in their old age – with one in 10 facing costs in excess of £100,000.From April 2016, the government is setting the cap on care at £72,000 from the age of 65. Currently people face unlimited costs – although those with little wealth get help towards their costs.Under the change, once an individual has spent that sum, the state will pick up the bill for care – although people will still be liable for £230 weekly living costs if they are in a care home.

A Conservative welfare minster has apologised after suggesting that disabled people are “not worth” the national minimum wage and some could only be paid “£2 an hour”.

Lord Freud, the Welfare Reform minister admitted the comments were “offensive” after they were disclosed by Ed Miliband during Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon. The Labour leader has called on the Tory peer to resign

Universal Credit costs will not be revealed until after general election

Computer Weekly – 27th Jan 2015

The government will not reveal the full cost of its troubled Universal Credit system until after the general election in May 2015, Computer Weekly has learned.

The last time it calculated an official cost estimate for the whole project, in 2012, it was £12.85bn. But while the cost is said to have since burgeoned, with the project now running two years behind its original schedule and with problems having complicated its development, the government has not updated the official estimate for more than two years.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which leads development of Universal Credit, and the Cabinet Office, which has responsibility for project oversight, have concealed the revised cost estimate since tearing up plans for the computer system in 2013 after two years of development – a process they called a “reset”.

They kept the number secret even after they finished re-scoping the project in September 2014, excluding it from the latest National Audit Office (NAO) review of Universal Credit in November that year.

The NAO report said Universal Credit would cost more because DWP had taken a “twin-track approach” to its redesign, in which it would proceed with both the old and new designs simultaneously to insure against failure. But publication of the actual cost increase will be withheld until after the general election on 7 May 2015.

I am researching the trend in temporary staffing spend within the
NHS.

If the information is held, please can you provide me with a
breakdown of the total agency/contract staff spend per NHS trust
for the previous 5 financial years? If data is not held for any
past years, please provide information for those that you are able
to.

Expansion plan will depend on outcome of controlled testing of service for online delivery of benefit reform

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) expects to announce a timetable for its plans to expand controlled testing of an enhanced digital service that will underpin Universal Credit in “due course”, ahead of the planned national launch of the system in May 2016.

“””However, the auditor warned at the time that any additional delays to the planned switch from the current Universal Credit system to the new digital iteration of the benefit reform by May of next year could cost billions of pounds without investment in an alternative solution.

“The department’s digital service has been delayed and is still in the very early stages of development. At this early stage it will depend heavily on manual intervention and will handle only a small number of claims – but it is soon to be tested with all claimant types, even the most complex,” said the NAO’s findings. “””

He is already the sixth leader of the project in barely two years. Malcolm Whitehouse and Steve Dover, the early managers, left DWP once it became apparent the IT was in trouble. DWP CIO Philip Langsdale took charge in August 2012 before his untimely death in December that year. Hilary Reynolds moved on in early 2013 after just four months as programme director, while David Pitchford took over as interim chief before Shiplee’s appointment in May 2013.

The current DWP CIO, Andy Nelson, while not the project leader, is also leaving the civil service in the next few months. (The DWP suggested that perhaps some wires had been crossed and my contact was approached by headhunters about replacing Nelson, but the contact maintains that was not the case).

Shiplee, previously construction director for the London 2012 Olympics, was lauded by secretary of state Iain Duncan Smith as something of a saviour.

…………………….A dwp spokesman said, with this level of incompetence, we should have listened, but IDS being an obstinate bastard, thought starving the nation was the best way forward………….

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR #PIP CLAIMANTS: YOU CAN ASK FOR AN EXTENSION FOR FILLING IN YOUR FORM

DPAC – 28th Jan 2015

DWP today published a ‘Statistical Ad-hoc’ document for PIP plus the first Review of PIP following its implementation.

Notable in the statistics release is the discrepancy between the number of new claims referred to the assessment provider (523,000) and the total number of new claims registered (625,000). DWP gives the the 3 following reasons to explain this discrepancy:

some claims have either been received recently and are still with the claimant for completion and return of Part 2 information and evidence;
or the claimant may have chosen to withdraw their claim;
or the department has disallowed the claim before it was referred to the assessment providers (due to failure of basic eligibility criteria or non return of the Part 2 information within the time limit).

The third reason is important. From the PIP review, many claimants have experienced difficulties in understanding the questions or filling in the form. The PIP reviewer notes that although the claimant has one calendar month to return this form to DWP, they can ask for an extension if reasonably required. It seems that when requested, DWP is only prepared to give a 2 week extension, but this extension can make the difference between a claim being accepted or disallowed. He also notes that: ‘At discussion groups, many claimants were unaware of the flexibility to request an extension where there is good reason’.

It is vitally important that PIP claimants are aware that they have the opportunity to ask for an extension if they cannot manage to fill in the form within the time limit, if they have good reasons to do so.

“””or the department has disallowed the claim before it was referred to the assessment providers (due to failure of basic eligibility criteria or non return of the Part 2 information within the time limit). “”””

This mornings BBC news is again, awash with tory propoganda, stating that a survey on the NHS asked 2000 people if they were satisfied…………………

Of course, they were nearly ecstatic…………..

What they failed to tell you is the survey is done by the KINGS FUND that is host to a plethora of drugs and service providers like SMITH KLINE BEECHAM………………………..

THESE COMMENTS FROM AN ARTICLE DRAFTED BY THE KINGS FUND IN 2014, INDICATE THE DIRECTION THEY WOULD LIKE THE NHS TO ADOPT;

King’s Fund study suggests the current health and social care systems are no longer fit for purpose

The report concludes that social care is already in crisis and that the NHS is heading the same way.

MORE PATIENT CHARGES may need to be introduced in the NHS, including fees for hospital and GP appointments and removing the blanket exemption from prescription charges for the over-60s, according to a report from the King’s Fund, which suggests the current health and social care systems are no longer fit for purpose.

The interim report from the five-strong Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care in England, chaired by Kate Barker, a former Bank of England economist, has been published as all three main parties decide how to approach the issue of social care in their election manifestos.

They’re not receiving it, their landlords are, because rents have gone up to much. The majority of them are working, like you, full time, but wages haved lagged behind rents for years. Which means when the cap is imposed, no poor people will live in London. In other words the entire fucking article you obviously didn’t read before opening your fucking trap. Jesus!

Benefit caps means ALL benefits JSA, ESA etc. + HOUSING BENEFITS. Tenants do not receive one single penny of Housing Benefits – it all goes to greedy fucking landlords i.e George fucking Osborne and his toff mates!

Also Housing Benefit is an IN-WORK benefit as well as an out of work benefit. Most claimants of Housing Benefits and who make up the majority who are affected by these ‘caps’ are IN WORK. They have to claim housing benefits simply because rents are too fucking high and wages are too fucking low.

i really don’t know how people can cope with this high/extreme level of uncertainty…what would worry me, and cause rational anxiety is when they stop benefits especially if one is on e and sa and the ensuing mountain of debt…i feel that it would be a mind numbing experience to endure, must be like living on a knife edge, with a subsequent detriment to emotional and physical health…in the sg one is exempt from the benefit cap but that is dependent on not being found fit for work @ some point…the only way to gain temporary relief is if somehow one could move out but then localism kicks in, and one is locked into purgatory…i’m just glad i don’t live in the south east any more, but it’s bad everywhere with some places being worse than others…but i cannot imagine being in a worse situation than living in the se or ldn and being forced to depend on this level of benefit sanctions and conditionality….

taken from hansard
13. UnumProvident is actively engaged with the Government, policy-makers and large employers to share best practice and to see where our systems and approaches might be applied more widely. We are currently working with the Department of Work and Pensions on this, and have had discussions with officials in HM Treasury and the Prime Minister’s office. We have met with officials to help better understand the nature of the IB casebook, and to discuss how our commercial experience and expertise might be more widely applied. In addition, we will shortly be supporting the National Employment Panel in its work on the New Deal for Disabled People through a secondment of one of our senior managers.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
DWP RESPONSE TO A FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

After consideration the internal review has confirmed that DWP does not hold any information on
the Corporation identified above, as they are not connected to the DWP Medical Services
Contract.

You might find it helpful if I explain that Freedom of Information (FoI) Act is about the supply of
recorded information held by the Department rather than explaining or confirming whether your
assumptions are correct or not.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

“The amount of money lost to benefit fraud stands at some £1.2 billion – cash which otherwise could be spent on supporting those in genuine need, improving public services or reducing people’s taxes.

“There are still too many people who continue to ignore the warnings and steal from the benefits system. They deserve to pay a heavy price for doing so and that is why we are taking action. I hope this new measure attracts widespread support in the Commons.”

FOI forwards to each govt deparrment its those departments which choose to respond or not
1 no info on that
2 ” its not clear what you are asking”
3 according to our made up rules on what we deem the public interest
4 fuck off and go away none of your business

@razor it depends on which department some are more helpful than others
It depends if that department thinks you are too nosy
Or more than likely they have something to hide
In my case .The Home Office they most certainly have stuff to hide

It comes down to twisting a written word. That is why I am careful in the why I word things so it can`t be twisted & misrepresented. What he meant to say was ……….No get it from the horses mouth otherwise it`s Not Fit For Purpose as a messenger !!! While your playing snakes & ladders in DWP pecking order. Let`s talk in lawyers words then.

You know with months or so until the election i’m in a quandary now. I want in my heart to vote SNP but the thought of the SNP vote letting that prick Cameron in for another term doesn’t bear thinking about!!!

Now i know Labour are a joke and not much better than the Tories. But there’s just something revoltingly objectionable about Cameron, IDS, McVile, Osborne, Pickles, Lansley and all the rest of those upper crust tits that is making me think of holding my nose and voting Labour, though i vowed i never would again!

A 7-year-old Cambridge boy is battling with a devastating cancer – but his disability benefits have been stopped forcing his mother to go without food.

And devoted mum Ruth Miller, 39, has faced eviction and struggles to pay for heating as she and her husband Kevin, 42, of Thorpe Way, Abbey, have been battling with the Department for Works and Pensions (DWP) since May for disability living allowance for their son Tommi.
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The couple, who have a daughter Kacey, 8, and 16-year-old Kharis, have been forced to give up their jobs to care for Tommi but have been left to struggle without the allowance.

Little Tommi faces another two years of gruelling chemotherapy because the devastating condition returned in September after he was given the all clear in May.

The 2015ge should be an open goal for the Labour Party but they have remained politically lame, their traditional working class support has lost confidence in them not only that but the Labour Party have lost that art of communicating with that base. The sentiments of the British peoples have shifted to the right this gives the Labour Party two options to chase those sentiments further to the right or to anchor themselves further to the left both options will cost them votes and the 2015ge regardless of the SNP vote.

Why vote for an imitation Tory party when you can vote for the real deal.

The problem labour have if they win in May 2015 is that they are contracted to Maximus till 2018. The only way to get out of the contract is to pay Maximus off which labour cant afford to do, so we are stuck with Maximus whoever wins in May.

Labour & Conservatives in power or UKIP & Conservatives. Might as well give Maximus the contract until 2030.

£500 million to get rid of Maximus think about Labour. You left the Conservatives with Atos & The conservatives will leave Labour [if they win] with Maximus. DWP CORPORATE LOSSES.OR DWP CORPORATE GAINS = BANKING CRASH.

Town Hall accused of spending £3 million on gagging clauses to keep departing staff quiet

Camden New Journal – 22nd Jan 2015

THE Town Hall stands accused of spending huge amounts of public money on making sure staff “keep their mouths shut” about the reasons for their departure.

The charge came from Liberal Democrat councillor Flick Rea as it was revealed that Camden has spent more than £3million in a series of secretive pay-off deals bound up with gagging clauses. She described the figures as “obscene”.

The figures were revealed after she pressed Labour council chiefs on the issue at Monday’s full council meeting.

Gagging clauses stop exiting employees from talking about their work at the Town Hall, or the story behind their departures. More officially, they are described in council circles as compromise agreements.

We may be giving training to those carrying out the work capability test, but that does not mean we will stop campaigning vigorously to improve government policies on disability

What do you do when government policies don’t work at all? The work capability assessment (WCA) is an obvious example. It is part of a system that is meant to help disabled people into work when possible, and support those who can’t work because of illness and disability. Instead, it is a fit-to-work test that doesn’t function properly, because it is badly designed and poorly carried out. Many disabled people find the WCA punitive, humiliating and distressing.

These problems are well documented, including the failures of Atos to conduct WCAs. From March, a new company, Maximus, will be taking over that contract.

ARLINGTON HOUSE HOMELESS HOSTEL GOT PRIVATISED IN A DEAL WITH ONE HOUSING GROUP AND CAMDEN COUNCIL
Also oddly enough one housing group
Have odd connections via their advisor who was pps to tha late LEON BRITTAN
And who runs the place i am at ?
One Housing group who have odd connection to Dolphin Square foundation and Dolphin sqr is where VIP csa abuse took place
@GEOFF REYNOLDS And All
GO FIGURE that lot out spooky eh??

Before joining the City, Nigel was an army officer, commissioned into the Royal Artillery while reading mathematics at Durham University. He served in Germany and the UK, completing three emergency tours in Northern Ireland. Subsequently Nigel joined the Home Office, working on criminal policy issues and establishing HM Inspectorate of Prisons, and was twice appointed private secretary to Leon Brittan.

Nigel has extensive direct experience of the not-for-profit sector, where he has accumulated over fifty years collective involvement as a director of seven organisations, twice as chairman. He remains chairman of The Arvon Foundation and is a non-executive director of One Housing Group.

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